


Trail of Dust

by GameCake



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alpha Derek, Alternate Universe, But it is mostly just fun, Getting Together, M/M, Magical Stiles Stilinski, Mates Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Sheriff Stilinski's Name is John, Translation Available, a bit of angst, because I said so, fairy!Derek, set somewhere after season 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-02
Updated: 2018-03-02
Packaged: 2019-03-24 12:58:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13811679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GameCake/pseuds/GameCake
Summary: Fairies. Fucking fairies.Those devious bastards. They always found a way to fuck you up in the most creative ways.Stiles hated them.He hated them.





	Trail of Dust

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [След волшебной пыли](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16727082) by [gutentag](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gutentag/pseuds/gutentag)



> Hello, everyone!  
> I have been working on this fic for at least a year and I am finally uploading it, I think that deserves an applause.
> 
> This is set in an alternative timeline somewhere between s2 and s3, Derek is an alpha, but the pack members are slightly older. 
> 
> You can find artwork for this fic [here,](http://lokiofasgcrd.tumblr.com/post/171455684558/trail-of-dust-gamecake-relationship-sterek)[ here,](http://lokiofasgcrd.tumblr.com/post/171490113941/trail-of-dust-gamecake-relationship-sterek) and [here.](http://lokiofasgcrd.tumblr.com/post/171525830776/trail-of-dust-gamecake-relationship-sterek)  
> [ follow me on tumblr!](http://lokiofasgcrd.tumblr.com/)
> 
> There is a **Russian translation** by [ **_gutentag_**](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gutentag/pseuds/gutentag) that you can find [ **_here_**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16727082)!
> 
>  
> 
> **Enjoy!**

Fairies. Fucking  _fairies_.

Those devious bastards. They always found a way to fuck you up in the most creative ways.

Stiles hated them.  _He hated them._

✨✨✨✨

As if Beacon Hills was not already busting with supernatural creatures, some brand new dispute awoke Stiles from his slumber.

He deeply regretted putting so many protection spells on the territory boundaries. What was the point anyway if they were going to be ruined all over again the next time someone decided that Beacon Hills was a nice vacation destination?

Stiles only ended up losing his patience and his sleep.

The problem with being a spark? Having no guidance whatsoever and having to deal with situations like that on his own. He had to create his own spells, charms, runes, anything really.

Waking up because someone ruined his runes? That was beyond annoying, the surge of his broken magic startled him awake instantly making feel alarmed and out of breath.

A sense of awareness that something was wrong was definitely what he didn’t like to feel this late at night –or early in the morning, depending on one’s point of view.

Stiles sighed in defeat and turned his phone on to inform the local pack of  _idiots_ that couldn’t keep  _their_ territory safe for a  _second_. Someone had to take care of it for them, apparently.

So there he was, grumbling angrily under his breath as he got ready, completely lost in his own world. He was sure he should have known better by now, but he still flailed when he returned to his room to retrieve his phone but instead found Derek in front of his window.

“We talked about this!” he hissed.

Derek smirked wickedly. “It is always funny to see you flail.”

Stiles crossed his arms. “Will it be funny if I have a heart attack?”

“Probably,” Derek replied thoughtfully but it was clear that he was only messing with Stiles.

“It's not even funny!” Stiles exclaimed in irritation. “Can we go now?”

Derek didn’t stop looking amused as he nodded.

✨✨✨✨

Stiles was starting to hate the woods; nothing good ever came out of going there.

He was, in fact, complaining lowly about how much he despised everything for about half an hour, when Derek finally had enough and told him to shut up.

It was rude, but it was true that Stiles was being annoying. Purposely even.

Derek had guessed that their effort to find whoever crossed the borders were slim to none, since whoever had enough power to invade the territory like that was smart enough to know to hide.

To Stiles’s sleep-deprived mind that sounded very much like a dismissal of the mission, so his mind went into a daydreaming mode soon after.

He was thinking about how annoying Derek was and how much he didn’t appreciate being told what to do, when tripped on a root. As he stood back up, he realized two things. One, he was lost, and, two, Derek was nowhere to be seen.

Seriously, who thought splitting up a good idea?

Since he was already feeling grumpy, the realization that he was lost in the woods with many different kinds of predators without his Alpha, made him furious.

“ _Idiot_ , you were supposed to be here to protect me, goddamnit!” he said under his breath angrily.

_Stupid Derek with his stupid face and his perfect everything._

Derek was beyond frustrating.

Still muttering angrily, Stiles took his phone out and texted Derek his complaints.

_Stiles: WHAT HAPPENED TO /NOT/ SPLITTING UP?_

He had just pressed sent when he heard the distinctive sound of a twig breaking. He immediately froze up and turned to the direction of the sound carefully.

Sure enough, there was a woman standing there eerily calm. She had long white hair half braided on top of her head and half flowing on her shoulders gently.  Her skin was pale with warm undertones, and her eyes looked like the most generic emerald kind of green Stiles had ever seen on any pallet of colors. She was wearing a white summer dress and she had bright red lipstick on. Her delicate features and her porcelain looking skin gave her great beauty, but at the same time there was a disturbing vibe coming from her. She was barefoot and she held herself with grace and power unlike anything Stiles had ever seen.

“Mieczysław Stilinski,” she addressed, her tone as sharp as a knife but her voice as sweet as honey and her pronunciation on spot.

“Who are you?” Stiles asked cautiously.

She gave him a pleasant smile. “You may call me Amara.”

“How come you know my name but I don’t know yours,  _Amara_?” Stiles asked suspiciously.

“I know of all magic users that exist,” she admitted warmly. “I am very impressed by your work here, Mieczysław. It shows great talent of someone on your level. Great potential indeed.”

Stiles wasn’t fazed by her attempt to get on his good side. “That doesn’t explain neither why you are here nor how you know about me.”

She chuckled softly. “I like your passion,” she decided. “My clan and I do not want to cause trouble, we only want to settle on our new territory. To get there, we needed to make our way through Beacon Hills.”

“Are you aware that you are trespassing? This is Hale territory,” Stiles inquired.

“We are. Which is why we are not settling  _here,” she_ pointed out. “As I mentioned, we are not here to cause trouble. In fact, we are willing to give you a gift if you are willing to let us pass without any resistance.”

Stiles narrowed his eyes. “A gift?”

“It is a custom to my people to bless those who help us,” she explained politely.

Consumed by curiosity, Stiles's defensive posture loosened up. “What are you?”

“We are fae,” she admitted proudly. “My clan holds the oldest and purest fairy heritage.”

Stiles was surprised. “You are  _fairies_?”

Amara looked at him disapprovingly. “The humans may have disgraced us in their tales, but we are not like that,” she said fiercely.

Stiles raised his hands in surrender. “I believe you, I just…  would have imagined fairies smaller… and with wings.”

“Fairies as experienced and powerful as I am are able to conceal their true form,” she clarified slowly, as if she thought that she was talking to a toddler. “Enough of this. Do you agree to let us pass?”

“I can’t agree with anything without talking to my Alpha,” Stiles confessed.

“There is no time. Do we have a deal?” She insisted straightening her back even more, effectively making herself look more powerful.

“I repeat; you have to talk to my Alpha,” Stiles offered back stubbornly.

“I don’t negotiate with  _wolves_. It is either you or we will fight our way through you,” she barked.

Alarm bells starting ringing in Stiles’s head. “Let’s not jump to quick decisions that we will both regret making,” he said in haste. “How about you tell me again what my options are?”

Amara looked irritated but she did as Stiles said. “You can either accept our gift and let us through, or you can cause a war between my clan and this local pack of yours.”

Stiles fidgeted nervously. “I certainly don’t prefer the later option.”

“I am glad,” she said with a wide smile.

“Wait, I haven’t agreed yet. I need to know what the gift is,” Stiles demanded.

“It’s more of a blessing, a boon,” she started. “I am willing to grant you one of your deepest desires.”

Stiles didn’t buy a word. “What is my  _deepest desire_?”

“You want him happy,” She declared, leaving the ‘ _him’_  unexplained. “I can give him eternal happiness, protection and love.”

Stiles shifted uncomfortably. “No loopholes?”

“No loopholes,” she agreed with a smile.

Stiles licked his lips nervously as he looked back in her eyes. “And he will be happy?”

Amara’s smile got wider. “As happy as any of my fairies.”

“Okay,” Stiles decided. “I will accept your offer, on conditions.”

Amara’s smile flattered and she looked at with calculating eyes. “Which are?”

“First of all, no harm whatsoever comes to the rest of the pack or me. Secondly, Derek will not turn human or anything in an attempt to ‘live a peaceful life’ or bullshit like that. And, thirdly, I need to be able to contact you if I am displeased with our arrangement,” Stiles listed.

Amara considered his words for a few seconds. “Agreed.”

Stiles smiled nervously as he said, “It’s a deal.”

Amara smirked mischievously. “To find a fairy, you must look for the stars,” she said cryptically before she disappeared and left behind her a cloud of what seemed to be some form of glitter.

“That makes zero sense!” Stiles yelled at the spot she used to occupy.

With her absence, the woods looked darker and the moon dimmer. Stiles shivered when a cold breeze touched him and he pulled his hoodie closer to his body.

Still feeling cold, he reached for his phone. It seemed that he had 5 texts from Derek, each in varying levels of distress, all of them asking where he was.

Stiles sighed and called him.

✨✨✨✨

Derek, apparently, didn’t take the news so well.

“What do you mean you talked to them?” he asked with a deathly glare.

Stiles smiled sheepishly. “Well… technically, I only talked to  _one_  of them…”

Derek wasn’t amused, in fact, he looked murderous. Stiles hated when he was the one to receive that kind of look, so he sobered up and told Derek what happened in great detail.

Apart from the boon part. He neglected to tell Derek anything about it, instead, he made up a lie about her promising him a wish and then disappearing.

By the time he was done talking they had already reached the cars, so they took their separate ways home.

Stiles had the entire ride home to debate if the gift he was promised was a lie. Derek didn’t seem any different, but then again, he guessed that it needed time to happen.

He couldn’t wait for Derek to  _not_  getting murdered every other week. He couldn’t wait for Derek to be  _happy_.

✨✨✨✨

Given his abrupt awakening the previous night, Stiles thought he would sleep in the next morning. Being summer, he had no responsibilities whatsoever that required waking up before noon.

Instead, he was rudely woken up by an unknown force.

Stiles opened his eyes in confusion and realized that no, the force that woke him was not unknown, it was one of his comic books that had somehow been thrown to his face.

“What did you do?”

_Was that was Derek’s voice?_

Derek who… apparently was not in the room? Stiles squinted his eyes trying to spot him but there was no sign that Derek had ever been there other than the open window. Which, Stiles guessed, was proof enough.

“I’m  _here,_ ” Derek’s voice rang again this time sounding smaller and closer.

Stiles turned his eyes to the direction of the voice came and he frowned. There, on his desk sat a tiny naked human. Or, maybe, not human, if that pair of wings and the weird glittering shine he let off were any clues. Stiles gaped at him as he tried to process the situation.

“You did this to me!” the small being shouted and stood up.

Stiles was too groggy from sleep so his mind could compile what was happening in front of him. “What?” he managed.

“Fix me. Now.” the… fairy with Derek’s voice said.

Stiles was truly at a loss. “What is going on?”

The fairy took off then and hovered clumsily in front of Stiles, as if he didn’t know how to properly use his wings. “I don’t know what the fuck you agreed to but you have to undo it,” he demanded.

Up close, Stiles realized that he even looked like Derek. Blue tint aside, he had almost the same hair color, same eyes, same skin tone, same judgy eyebrows, and same abs- and Stiles would recognize Derek’s abs anywhere.

Then Stiles froze.  _Oh hell_.

“That fucking fairy! She tricked me!” he yelled angrily.

The little creature in front of him didn’t just look like Derek, he  _was_ Derek. And,  _damnit_ , Stiles should have known, Amara had literally said that he would be  _as happy as any other of her fairies_.

He was such an  _idiot_! How could he have missed that?

Stiles groaned and covered his face with his hands. “Fuck! I’m sorry, Derek,” he apologized sincerely.

Derek didn’t look any taller or, at least, any less naked when Stiles looked at him again. “That doesn’t turn me back.”

“Shit, yeah, you are right.” Stiles said and started biting his bottom lip nervously. “Can't you put something on? You are completely naked!”

Derek crossed his arms that he probably came out looking tough, but Stiles could see that he was self-conscious. “Oh, yes, how did I not see that before?" he snarked in a deadpan. "What am I supposed to wear?”

“Can’t you like… use one of your newfound powers to generate clothing?” Stiles questioned uncomfortably.

Derek’s mouth tightened. “In case you didn’t notice, I don’t exactly know how to use my ‘ _newfound powers’._ I barely know how to use the wings!”

Stiles fidgeted anxiously. “I’m sure it is easier than it seems?”

“ _Shut up_  about it! Just turn me back!” Derek shouted in a pitched voice, and only then did Stiles realize that Derek was purposely making his voice deeper. He was so small that his vocal chords were not supporting his old voice fully.

“Okay! Okay, I will work on it! In the meantime… how about I give you a tissue? Maybe you can turn it into a toga?”

✨✨✨✨

About three hours later, Stiles was on his desk trying to make sense of the tales of fairies. Derek hadn’t put up much of a fight when Stiles handed him a tissue and he was now wearing his very own little DIY toga.

Derek was sitting in front of the keyboard and he basically either read along with Stiles or he demanded to go to another page.

“Are you sure she said ' _stars'_?” Derek asked a while later.

“Yeah.”

“There is nothing about stars anywhere,” Derek stated.

Stiles sighed and sat back. “I know.”

He closed his eyes and let his head fall back. It was nice for a few seconds. Until he was hit in the chest by tiny hands and feet.

Stiles jerked and shoved Derek away. “Stop that!”

Derek glared at him. “You told me you would turn me back!”

Stiles did a weird motion with his arms in frustration. “I’m trying!”

“You are not trying enough, this is your fault!” Derek accused and flew away.

“I’m  _trying_ , what else am I supposed to do?” Stiles shouts.

“I don’t know, how about not making deals with fairies? Did you even think about letting me handle it?” Derek yelled back.

“I told you she wouldn’t have it! Honestly, what did you prefer? To have a war?”

Derek snorted. “War.  _War._  Fighting a few fairies isn’t war.”

“You didn’t  _see_  her. She is capable of turning you into a tiny fairy just for fun, do you really want to fight with her people? They would  _crush_  us!” Stiles said firmly. “I’d rather no one died.”

Derek clenched his jaw and crossed his arms. “Fine. I am leaving,” he decided and flew to the window.

“Hey, Derek, wait!” Stiles called after him but Derek didn’t stop. Stiles cursed under his breath but when he reached his window he couldn’t see Derek anywhere.

Typical.

He was about to text Derek to come back when he realized that it wouldn’t matter because Derek’s phone was probably back to his loft and besides, he was too small to use it.

Looks like he would be alone for some time.

He sat back in his chair and did some more research.

✨✨✨✨

Derek still hadn’t shown up after dinner so Stiles got impatient.

Good news, one of the first spells he learned was a spell that helped him locate his pack members.

Bad news, when Derek didn’t want to be found, he couldn’t be found.

Stiles learned that a long time ago.

The spell took him to the location of the old Hale house, which wasn’t a surprise. Stiles spent almost half an hour looking around trying to spot a fairy with magical mystical  _glowing_  wings, but Derek still didn’t show up.

“Damn Derek, I want to help!” Stiles yelled and sat on the semi-destroyed porch. “Just… come on, it’s late. Come home with me and maybe we will figure it out.”

“Okay,” Derek’s voice echoed after a few beats of silence.

Stiles let out a relieved sigh and turned to face him. It would have been nice if he could have kept his laughter, but the situation was ridiculous.

Derek was standing in front of the doorway with his arms crossed and a determined look on his face. He would look totally badass if he was at his normal size, but given that he was only about 8 inches tall, wore a toga and had little blue wings that pumped some weird magical fairy dust, he just looked  _cute_ instead.

He was straight up adorable and Stiles couldn’t help but burst out into laughter.

Derek didn’t seem to enjoy being laughed at, and he physically stiffened as he made himself look even smaller in what Stiles interpreted as self-consciousness.

Stiles tried to sober up, but he let stray giggles every now and then. “Hey, no don’t do that, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have laughed. You are just so  _tiny.”_

Derek stomped his foot angrily. “I am not  _tiny_!” he yelled in a high pinched voice and immediately shut his mouth at the sound of his own voice.

Stiles giggled again despite his efforts to take Derek seriously.

Derek huffed and turned back in the house stubbornly.

“No, wait!” Stiles said and stood up.

Derek paused and looked at him. “I am not going to sit here while you laugh at me.”

“You are right, I am a dick. I promise I am not going to laugh at you anymore.” Stiles promised. When Derek didn’t seem really convinced, Stiles raised his hand and turned his pinky to Derek’s direction. “I pinky swear.”

Derek rolled his eyes, but Stiles could see the tiny smile turning up the corners of his lips. “I’m not going to pinky swear with you, what are you, 5?”

Stiles tried to look offended, but he ended up smiling. “ _Rude_.” He stressed.  “Your loss, buddy,” he decided and stood up.

He started walking to his Jeep when he noticed that Derek wasn’t following. “Are you not coming?” He was too far to see Derek’s face but he heard him sigh as he started walking towards Stiles. Given how small his legs were, it would take some time to reach the jeep by foot. Stiles frowned at him. “Are you going to walk?”

“Yes,” Derek assured firmly.

Stiles was still perplexed. “I’m pretty sure flying is faster.”

Derek let a menacing growl. “I am  _walking_.”

Stiles shrugged. “Okay, sure, have it your way,” he decided and got in the jeep as he waited for Derek.

It didn’t take long for Derek to get in the jeep through the window, but to Stiles, it felt like  _hours_.

Derek sat in the middle of the passenger seat with his usual pitched face and his little legs stretched in front of him. He looked cute, but Stiles was determined to  _not_  coo at him. “Let’s go home.”

✨✨✨✨

Once again, research didn’t get them anywhere. At 2 am Stiles gave up and declared that it was time for sleep.

Derek had been leaning against Stiles’s forearm during the research time and he must have gotten tired, because when Stiles took his arm away, Derek all but lay half on the desk half on the laptop. He didn’t argue when Stiles said it was better to sleep. In fact, he yawned and rubbed his eyes.

Stiles figured that the huge screen wasn’t good for his little eyes and considered finding better options for the next time they did some research.

Derek stayed on the desk while Stiles changed into his pajamas. When Stiles was ready for bed, he found Derek in the same position but this time he was looking at the window as if it was a threat. His wings were lowered and his body looked tense.

“You can stay here,” Stiles told him.

Derek looked at him and then back at the window. “Okay,” he decided.

Stiles nodded and tiptoed –in order to not wake his dad up- to the wardrobe in the hall that had the extra pillows and blankets. He grabbed the smallest pillows he could find and the fluffiest blanket. When he got to his room, he headed to the armchair behind his door. He put the pillows up in a fluffy resemblance of a mattress and folded the blanket just so Derek could lie inside it as a sleeping bag.

When he was satisfied with his work, Stiles motioned to the armchair and said proudly “Ta-da!”

Derek blinked slowly at him and flew off the desk. Stiles thought he would fly all the way, but no, Derek lowered himself to the ground and walked to Stiles. Then he physically climbed to the armchair and tested his new bed.

Stiles’s face must have been showing his confusion, because Derek looked at him and frowned himself. “What?”

“Why don’t you fly?” Stiles asked.

Derek pulled the blanket over his legs and shrugged.

Stiles crossed his arms in disbelief. “That is not an answer.”

Derek glared at him. “I just don’t want to.”

Stiles still wasn’t convinced. “You are lying.”

“I’m not,” Derek said a little too fast to be telling the truth. Stiles only raised an eyebrow. “Let it go,” Derek growled and turned to lie on his side with his back turned to Stiles.

Stiles narrowed his eyes. “Is it just me, or the height lost got transitioned in a higher attitude?”

Derek turned his head to him and let his eyes bleed Alpha red as he snapped his teeth in warning. He didn’t look as intimidating as he would have hoped, but Stiles pretended that he was.

“Fine, fine. I’m going to bed. If you need anything… I don’t know, wake me up,” He announced and climbed into his bed.

✨✨✨✨

Derek was cranky when he woke up.

His bed hair was void of any product he might usually use so it fell on his forehead even after he tried to tame it.

Stiles found a handkerchief that was thicker and better quality than the makeshift toga Derek had, so Derek changed into that. He seemed slightly happier with his new clothes on, but he still had a permanent glare set on his face.

Since Stiles realized that research was getting them nowhere at the moment, he decided that he should at least try train Derek with his magic, considering he had any of course.

They argued for an hour about it, but in the end, Derek gave in with an eye roll and they went to Stiles’s backyard to test out Stiles’s theories on fairies.

Derek kept saying that what they were doing was stupid, but Stiles still sat down in the middle of the yard. He was sitting cross-legged on the bare dirt, because he found that magic was easier when he was as close to nature as he could possibly be.

Stiles had been trying to have Derek mirror his stance on the ground in front of him, but Derek was being stubborn again. “Come on, Derek, work with me!”

“I am not sitting on the dirt!” Derek countered.

Stiles threw his arms around in frustration. “I’m sorry,  _princess,_  that I can’t have you sit on silk and feathers, but I can’t help you if I can’t access my magic,” He shouted a tad too loudly. “It’s simple, you either sit your ass down and work with me -and maybe we can learn more about fairies- or you keep doing what you are doing and you are on your own.”

Derek wasn’t pleased as he sat on the dirt.

Stiles, on the other hand, was  _very_  pleased.

But he decided to not rub it on Derek’s face. So, he stretched a little and relaxed his muscles. He took a deep breath and focused on the world around him. As he let it out, he reached within him to the familiar warm heartbeat that he had identified as the source of his magic.

Immediately, the warmth of his Spark hugged his whole body in the sweetest but also most exhilarating way possible. “I am not sure what works for you, but to tap into my power, I need to connect with the world. Once I do that, I can  _feel_  stuff. I can feel the buzzing from the ground beneath me, I can feel the breeze, the sun, I can  _feel_  sound. It is easy to spot my magic then. I only have to imagine it manifesting in my chest and voila! It is  _there_ ,” Stiles explained and with the last words he extended his arm and held up his palm. In the center of it, appeared a small light ball that seemed to be thousands of colors at the same time.

Derek looked enchanted by the magical light ball on Stiles’s hand. His eyes were trained on it in fascination, but he didn’t try it himself.

“I read that it is easier for new magic users to manipulate magic that is already there than create their own, so how about instead of trying it yourself you take it in your own hands?” Stiles offered.

Derek looked at him with an uncomfortable look in his eyes. “Was that how  _you_  learned?”

Stiles shook his head. “You know that I didn’t have guidance. I had to learn on my own.”

Derek shrugged. “I figured you had Deaton to help.”

Stiles scoffed. “Deaton can’t do magic like this. Besides, the man is too cryptic to be my teacher.”

Derek hummed in response. He raised his hands to touch, but he hesitated.

“Come on, if you can’t get a grasp of it will probably just dissipate, it won’t burn or hurt you in any way,” Stiles prompted him.

Derek reached out again and placed both his palms around the light in concertation.

Stiles smiled proudly. “Yeah, like that. Do you feel it buzzing?”

Derek closed his eyes in concentration. “Yeah,” he whispered.

“That’s the magic,” Stiles clarified. “Get used to the buzzing. Let it be one with you. Well… not literally. Just imagine that your heart is beating the same rhythm.”

Derek frowned. “But I can hear my heart and it doesn’t beat like that.”

“ _Imagine it does!_ ” Stiles stressed.

Derek nodded and closed his eyes again. It took him a little to call out to the magic himself. Stiles could feel it when Derek used magic of his own to claim the light ball so he eased his hold on it and helped it get passed to Derek’s hands.

A nervous smile bloomed on Derek’s face as he took ahold of the light himself. He looked proudly at Stiles, but that was a mistake because he lost concentration and the magic dimmed out and got lost.

Derek looked startled at his empty palms and his proudness vanished as he took a disappointed look. “Hey, no worries, you did great! You maintained it, that’s a big milestone, I couldn’t maintain it for a second for the first few months.”

Derek wasn’t convinced, in fact, he looked heartbroken that the magic didn’t settle in his hands.

“Maybe we can try something else?” Stiles tried gently.

Derek furrowed his brows. “ _No_.”

“Are you sure? We could do something easier,” Stiles tried.

“I said no. I am doing this,” Derek said firmly in a tone that showed that he accepted no arguments.

Stiles sighed and started the process again.

✨✨✨✨

They repeated the same basic activity 7 times before Derek was able to hold on the light without it fading away in seconds.

By then, they were starving and uncomfortable from staying in the same position for so long. Derek looked fairly tired too, and Stiles knew it was because he had been using magic for the first time.

Stiles stretched and stood up. “Come on, let’s eat.”

Derek stood up too and Stiles regarded him as he wiped his makeshift clothing. He was barefoot and it couldn’t be too nice to not be able to take a shower.

“Hey, Derek?” he asked on a whim. “What do you think about a bath?”

Derek looked at him dubiously.

“I could fill the sink with water and leave you a soap bar. It can’t be comfortable to be shower-less, especially when you are barefoot. And haven’t showered for at least one and a half day,” Stiles babbled.

Derek looked…  _thankful_  as he nodded in agreement.

Stiles smiled at him and headed for the kitchen.

Pasta sounded great, he decided and took out the ingredients needed for one of his favorite recipes. “You know what is a great side effect of being a spark? I can use magic to cook,” he declared happily. “And clean if I am creative enough,” he added after a pause.

Derek didn’t respond as he hovered next to the table looking unsure.

“Do you want to eat first and bathe later or bathe first?” Stiles asked when he realized that Derek was probably feeling dirty.

Derek didn’t reply verbally, however, at right that second his stomach growled loud enough for Stiles to hear.

Stiles nodded. “Okay, we are eating then.”

The actual food took less than ten minutes to be prepared and they were soon eating away. Derek was awkward, because even the smallest fork Stiles owned was half his height, and the food itself was big.

Stiles decided to help him out a little by cutting it for him, but there was nothing he could do to help the fork situation, so Derek ended up using his hands instead.

Stiles finished eating first so he went to the bathroom to prepare Derek’s tiny bubble bath.

It gave him a weird sense of satisfaction to take care of Derek like that. He wasn’t ready to deal with what that might mean at the moment, but his stomach still fluttered at the thought of making Derek happy.

He shook his head and went downstairs again to find Derek having just finished his meal. He was rubbing his arms on one end of a napkin, then he stood up and looked at Stiles expectantly.

“What?” Stiles asked.

Derek did something with his eyebrows that made absolutely no sense.

Stiles narrowed his eyes. “Is that supposed to tell me something?”

Derek mimicked Stiles’s expression and crossed his arms. “Are you going to just stand there and look at me?”

Stiles regarded him. “You want me to give you a ride,” he deduced. “Because you would rather walk than fly, something that you still haven’t explained.”

“Will you let that go?” Derek exclaimed.

“Nope. At least not until you tell me,” Stiles assured and extended his hand so that Derek could hop on.

Derek didn’t reply at all and stubbornly ignored Stiles until he was in the bathroom. He shooed Stiles dismissively then.

Stiles left huffing in irritation but Derek didn’t seem to care.

Or maybe, he didn’t care until he was done and he needed to dry up and have clean clothes.

Stiles was overly smug to be back and have Derek tell him to stop looking like that and help him already.

“You need me!” Stiles said with a self-satisfied smile.

Derek was definitely not happy.

✨✨✨✨

“Where are you going?” Derek asked from his desk.

Stiles paused. “I need to buy groceries.” 

Derek scowled. “You said you were going to help me.”

“I will, but I also need to eat and the fridge is empty,” Stiles said slowly.

Derek narrowed his eyes accusingly. “I’m coming with you.”

Stiles made an aborted movement with his hands. “No, you are not!”

Derek’s face was set in a determined look as he smirked. “Watch me.”

There was no way Stiles was taking Derek with him.

✨✨✨✨

“You want  _candy_?” Stiles hissed.

“Do you have a problem with that?” Derek growled lowly.

He was currently resting inside of Stiles’s shirt pocket, half concealed by the jacket Stiles had thrown on to hide him. It didn’t really matter, Derek had pushed it away to be able to see where Stiles’s was going and what he was doing.

Thank god it was too early for the grocery store to have more than a half a dozen people walking around.

Stiles had given a fair fight to keep Derek at home, but that little devious bastard not only made his life a living hell in only five minutes, but he was also so obnoxious that Stiles felt sorry for all the people he annoyed on a daily basis.  He even vowed to himself to try to be less irritating to his friends, but he knew it was a promise he wasn’t going to keep.

Stiles’s theory of Derek slowly adapting to a fairy’s attitude was being confirmed by every passing moment he spent with him.

He even said so, but that was a mistake, because it only made Derek even angrier and resulted in him being almost choked to death by his own shirt.

And, of course, when he was finally safe, he murmured something about Derek’s manliness and about being tiny which set off another set of tiny limbs kicking at him viciously.

Seriously, if Stiles didn’t have proof this was Derek he would think he was possessed or something!

“Grapes,” Derek declared and pulled Stiles out of his thoughts.

Stiles eyed the section Derek was pointing at. “What about them?”

“I want grapes.”

“Grapes are not on the list!” Stiles argued.

“You wrote the list,” Derek answered back.

“But I already got you that candy!” Stiles exclaimed a little too loudly and Derek had to hide a little more because even the few customers the shop had seemed as too many as they turned their heads to look at Stiles.

Stiles only smiled at them sheepishly. And walked away.

“You wanted the candy too,” Derek said when there was no one around.

“I didn’t, the more candy in my house the easier it is for dad to have a heart attack,” Stiles whispered.

Derek snorted. “Your dad’s heart sounds healthier than yours.”

“Don’t joke about stuff like that,” Stiles told him seriously.

“I am not joking, your dad is really healthy,” Derek said with a shrug.

“Let’s keep it that way then,” Stiles said firmly.

“Sure,” Derek agreed. “Get the grapes now.”

Stiles only sighed.

✨✨✨✨

A week later Stiles was cooking dinner as Derek was walking around and leaving glitter on the table while inspecting the procedure of food making.

Honestly, Stiles would have thought that flying would have made Derek’s life so much better, but Derek always shot down any questions about it. It was a little frustrating because Derek was tense after every time Stiles asked anything.

While Derek was being annoying, Stiles was getting irritated by the pack. They had yet to figure out that something was wrong with Derek, which essentially meant that despite not having seen him for a week, they were not looking for him. Not even his betas. Because Stiles didn’t know if Scott was considered a member of Derek’s pack.

At least his dad hadn’t noticed their newest roommate.

Or at least Stiles thought he hadn’t.

“Your dad will be back in an hour,” Derek declared, as if Stiles didn’t know already.

Stiles shrugged. “So?”

“We won’t have time to practice today,” Derek explained and sat in front of the bowl Stiles left on the table.

He was getting better at tying his makeshift clothes. Stiles let him have a bath daily so when they were at the grocery store Stiles got a pack of soft – really expensive - napkins that were washable.  

Derek had actually mumbled something that sounded dangerously close to thanks, so Stiles counted that as a win.

“Do you know how many things I can manage in an hour?” Stiles replied to his earlier statement.

Derek only crossed his arms dubiously.

“We can practice a little before dad comes home and then read the book I got from the library,” Stiles shrugged.

Derek snorted. “The kid's book about fairies. Right. Because that one is going to be what we need.”

“Stories always have some truth in them,” Stiles defended.

“ _Kids book,” Derek_ highlighted.

“Hey, don’t judge a book by its cover!”

Derek growled loudly then. “I wouldn’t if it was a book with potentially valuable information. We still have no clue what is going on or how to turn me back. It’s been a week since I was cursed, how long more do you think I can stay like this? How long until someone realizes that the Alpha of Beacon Hills can’t defend his territory?”

Derek’s frustrated words were enough for Stiles to sober up.

He realized then that for him having Derek over was like a long slumber party, but for Derek, it was a nightmare.

Stiles hadn’t thought about more potential threats, he hadn’t even tried too hard to get Derek back to normal because deep down he was enjoying the amount of time they were spending together.

Of course, it wasn’t like that for Derek.

“I think we should tell the pack,” Stiles said after stifling silence.

Derek’s face soured even more. “No!”

“What do you mean no?”

“We are not telling them,” Derek said firmly.

“Why the hell not?” Stiles countered.

Derek clenched his jaw. “Drop it.”

Stiles huffed in annoyance. “ _Drop it,_ ” he mocked. “Like you tell me to not ask about your wings. Like you refuse my help for anything other than to turn you back. Tell me one good reason to not call the pack  _right now_.”

Derek stood up and snarled. “You will  _not_  call the pack.”

“Why?”

“Because I said so!” Derek yelled in frustration.

Stiles crossed his arms and snorted. “Really? That’s it?  _Because I said so?_  Do you really think that is going to stop me?”

Derek flashed his red eyes. “I am your Alpha.”

“And I care too much about your well-being to not call the pack,” Stiles shot back angrily.

Derek’s expression changed for half a second, but then it was back to the default angry one. “Yeah, suddenly you care so much, you want to call everyone.”

“Why is that supposed to be a bad thing?”

“You won’t call my betas!” Derek yelled back, his voice ending up sounding a little more high-pitched than he probably wanted.

His little wings tensed up when he realized how he sounded and some more glitter gathered around him. That… didn’t improve his mood at all, in fact, his eyes flashed again in warning promising  _pain_  and  _death_  if Stiles dared to comment on it.

Stiles only smirked. “Watch me,” he said and immediately took his phone out, ready to call the first pack member in his contacts.

He probably should have seen it coming, but he was still startled when Derek leapt off the table and grabbed the phone out of his hands, using his weight to drop down on the floor with it.

Stiles had to take a moment to panic about both his phone and his alpha dropping on the floor with a loud bang. But Derek seemed 100% unharmed as he simply started running to the living room littering the room with glitter and fairy dust.

Stiles snapped back to reality and ran after him, but Derek, even being small and carrying a phone almost as tall as him, still was a fairy/alpha werewolf so he was much faster. He ducked under the furniture and hid under the couch, dragging Stiles’s poor smartphone with him.

Stiles felt a little victorious as he reached the couch, because he knew that Derek was almost cornered between the two walls. He kneeled and peaked under it with a smug smile. “You can’t leave without me catching you.”

Derek was sitting on the phone far in the back and flashing his eyes at Stiles.

Stiles reached for him, but found that the angle was all wrong and his hand was barely ten inches away from his target. So, he had to move around a little and ignore the loud growling as his hand got closer and closer to reaching Derek.

It was a solid nice tactic. It really was. Until he felt tiny teeth bite his fingers.

“Fuck!” Stiles cursed loudly and drew his hand back instinctively.

Which… triggered a series of events.

By drawing his hand back, he knocked his shoulder on the underside of the couch and while he started cursing for that too, and moved to escape, he fell back against the coffee table, at which point he knocked his head.

It was a disaster.

He was letting a series of all the swear words he could come up with, when he heard a throat being cleared pointedly.

Stiles’s head snapped around. “Dad!” he shouted in surprise. “Aren’t you early? How is it going, pops?”

His father looked unimpressed. “Care to tell me what you are doing?”

“I…” Stiles paused to come up with a good excuse. “I was unfortunate enough to drop my phone and I slipped, so I… just- you know…”

His dad looked at him in disbelief. “Very convincing,” he muttered. “Do I even want to know what you really dropped under the couch?”

“Probably not,” Stiles said with a wince.

“I hope it isn’t anything illegal.” His dad said pointedly and went for the stairs.

“The fact that you consider that wounds me!” Stiles yelled after him.

Stiles waited for the bathroom door to shut and then he turned back to look under the couch to find that Derek wasn’t there anymore. “ _Derek_!” he called as loudly as he could but mindful to not alert his dad.

That seemed to make Derek leap in to action. Literally. Stiles saw him jump on the stairs, step by step. Stiles’s poor phone was knocking loudly on Derek’s way to the top and Stiles winced in sympathy. He raced after Derek and leaned to catch him but with the next jump Derek used his wings too, so Stiles’s hand closed catching just air.

“Come back here!” he hissed angrily as Derek reached the top of the stairs and ran to Stiles’s room. His bedroom door smacked loudly shut, a feat quite remarkable for Derek’s tiny form.

Stiles quickly followed and faced an empty bedroom. “Come out, come out, wherever you are!” he sing-sang sarcastically and went to lean down to see if he was hiding under the bed or the desk, but before he could do anything, his ankle was attacked by tiny teeth and small claws. “What the fuck Derek?” he shouted before he could contain himself.

Derek didn’t back down, instead, he kept going up until he climbed on Stile’s shoulder and started pulling his hair.

Stiles shook his head madly to get him off and when that didn’t work, he tried to avoid any more pain with his hands. “Stop! Get off me!” he yelled in frustration, but Derek was never one to give up.

Then his door was pushed open with great force and his dad stood in his doorway. He looked simultaneously ready to punch someone and relieved when he took in the scene in front of him.

Stiles, on the other hand, was feeling relieved by other reasons, like Derek being behind his head and out of sight for example. But the situation was not looking good for his part. His room was messy already but now it was coated with a few layers of glitter and shame. Stiles himself looked unruffled, his hair wild, his clothes hanging on him in various levels of unkempt and he had his hands frozen midair to reach behind him.

“This is surely not what it looks like?” Stiles said uncertainly.

“I am not sure what it looks like to you,” his dad started. “But to me, it looks like you had some fight with what seems to be yourself, while yelling at someone to stop,” he finished slowly. “You see how that looks?”

Stiles winced. “Well then it may be a little of what it looks like.”

His dad sighed. “Son, whatever it is that has been going on with you I wish that you would tell me.”

“Of course, dad,” Stiles said hastily and let a wide smile appear on his face.

The sheriff kept staring at him for a few seconds, as if he was expecting him to say something else too, but then he sighed again, this time deeper and more tired. “Okay,” he said and left the room slowly. Disappointed.

Stiles hated it when his dad was like that.

Derek moved then and Stiles snapped back to him. He was fast enough this time to catch him, much to Derek’s displeasure.

Derek struggled to free himself but Stile’s hold was unrelenting. “Let me go!”

“Where is my phone?” Stiles asked lowly.

Derek stilled and looked away guiltily.

“Derek?” Stiles prompted.

“It’s under your pillow,” Derek said while refusing to make eye contact.

Stiles put him down on his desk and reached under his pillow, only to find that his phone screen was broken. Stiles’s anger reached a new level. “You broke it!” he accused.

No reply came from Derek.

Stiles tried to unlock it to see if the damage is that bad, and apparently, it was. Apparently, Derek had taken the touch out of the touch-screen. The sceen was shuttered and the sensors were not working at all.

“It’s not even working!” Stiles said in frustration and sat back on his bed. He couldn’t afford a new phone, he had already 3 ruined in his desk cupboard. His dad would kill him.

“I’m sorry,” Derek said quietly. “I can get you another.”

“I don’t want another! I helped creepy Mrs. Smith with her housework for a month to get this one,” he whined and put his face in his hands. Admittedly, he knew he sounded childish, but fuck it, he  _earned_  this phone. “Was it worth it?”

“Worth it?” Derek sounded confused.

Stiles shook his head and looked at him. “Will you tell me why you didn’t want me to call our friends so much that you broke my phone?”

Derek scowled and looked away. “I didn’t break it on purpose.”

“Oh, okay then, I guess that excuses the fact that it is broken now,” Stiles sneered.

“You don’t understand,” Derek said angrily.

Stiles made an annoyed sound. “Then make me understand!”

Derek didn’t seem too keen to reply. Instead, he stood up and quickly flew out of the window.

Stiles screamed in his pillow in response.

How could he ever think that fairy!Derek would be any different than the other fairies? Fairies were little annoying creatures who loved to see people get desperate to get rid of them.

Although, Stiles didn’t  _really_  want to get rid of Derek, he just wanted him to go back to be tall and moody. Tall and moody Derek was easier to be around, no matter how bad that sounds.

_You want him happy. I can give him eternal happiness, protection, and love._ That was what the fairy had said. There must have been some kind of truth in that statement, or else she wouldn’t have chosen this as a gift for Stiles.

_As happy as any of my fairies._ Was that what happiness looked like then? Surely not. Derek was just more pissy and annoying. He may not be quiet anymore all of the time but that wasn’t what Stiles would necessarily call an improvement.

Maybe the fairy had truly messed with him. But maybe she was partially sincere about her gift. Maybe in her own way she did try to help. Maybe.

But the situation was not looking good. They had no way to reverse the spell on their own and they had no help from the pack for reasons still unknown to Stiles.

Nothing made sense.

✨✨✨✨

Stiles woke up the next morning feeling stiff from staying in the same position for so long. He was still in yesterday’s clothes and covered in glitter.

He slowly sat up, while his whole body cracked, and rubbed his eyes. His window was still open, as he hadn’t bothered to close it the previous night, so his room was too bright for his poor eyes.

Stiles yawned loudly and stretched. He went to stand up but his eyes caught the light coming from his laptop. Which he had shut down.

On second glance, he saw Derek sitting next to it. But unlike yesterday, he seemed dirtier and a little muddy. He was holding something and he was eyebrow language screamed guilty.

“What?” Stiles asked in irritation.

Derek pointed to the computer screen, which was loaded on a website that sold cell phones.

“I can’t afford a new one,” Stiles stated slowly.

“I can,” Derek said and raised the card that he was holding, which was apparently his credit card. “It is only fair that I would buy you a new one since I was the one who broke it,” he elaborated before Stiles could protest.

“I don’t need your help,” Stiles said.

“Please, Stiles.”

Stiles sighed. “Fine.”

Stiles sat in his chair and scrolled through the available mobiles until he picked one exactly like his broken one. Derek nodded and started paying for it as Stiles went to the bathroom.

When he came back, Derek was sitting back to his earlier spot next to the laptop. “I didn’t want you to call the pack because I am the Alpha,” he confessed when Stiles sat back on his bed.

That was most confusing. “So?”

“I am their  _Alpha_. Alphas are strong, I can’t show weakness,” Derek stressed.

“Oh.” That… did make sense in a way. “But Derek, they are  _pack_ , they would be too busy being worried about you than to look down on you because you are not as tall as you were.”

Derek shook his head. “You don’t understand, it’s a wolf thing.”

Stiles bristled. “Not everyone in the pack is a wolf, Derek! Lydia, for instance, could be a great help in our research. Allison could-“

Derek snarled loudly and Stiles paused in surprise. “We are not saying  _anything_  to the  _Argents_!”

“But-“

“No, Stiles!”

Stiles would normally fight him, but the look of desperation that flickered on Derek’s face stopped him. He sighed instead and nodded. “Fine. Okay. I will not tell anyone… at least not yet.”

Derek nodded back at him gratefully.

Stiles fidgeted for a few seconds, unsure on how to approach the next subject. “So…” he started, “does this heart-to-heart includes an answer to my other question?” 

Derek squinted his eyes. “What other question?”

Stiles bit his lip. “Why don’t you fly?”

Derek fluttered his wings. “It hurts to support all my weight at once for more than a few seconds,” he replied after a pause.

That made sense. Although it was lost to Stiles why Derek wouldn’t tell him sooner, he did see that it was a logical explanation, so he didn’t press any further. Stiles was about to speak again when his stomach growled loudly. Right, food. “I don’t suppose you have eaten. Let’s have breakfast,” he decided and offered his palm for Derek to climb on.

Derek seemed grateful for the ride but he didn’t speak at all until they had both eaten and Stiles had set up a bath for him. “Thank you,” he had said before Stiles closed the door.

Or maybe Stiles imagined that part, since Derek saying the magic words was probably something out of a sci-fi movie.

✨✨✨✨

A week later Stiles was back outside sitting on the ground while practicing his magic with Derek.

Stiles reckoned that if Derek was not a werewolf he would be an all-powerful mage or something equally impressive. The guy was a natural, he seemed to be doing at least ten times better than Stiles had when he started using his magic.

Although, come to think of it, Stiles didn’t have a mentor to help him through, and maybe since Derek was now a being that related to magic for its survival he had it easier. Then again, Derek always seemed perfect to Stiles no matter what he was doing, so Stiles was totally biased and not a good judge.

That being said, Derek was able to harness the power around him and use it for his own bidding. At least to some level. He was in no way what Stiles would call an experienced, powerful magic user, but he was getting there much too soon in Stiles’s humble opinion.

Derek, however, was not feeling as confident about himself. He was less of an annoying little shit, but he was still very much of a pain to deal with. Of course, it was Stiles’s problem, and his fault if you ask Derek.

The pack still seemed absent, having made no contact whatsoever, definitely not with Derek, whose phone Stiles had retreated earlier that week, and not really with Stiles either. Scott had summer classes to attend and when he wasn’t doing something school related, he was with Allison, so he and Stiles only talked through his phone or computer. Allison was always with Lydia and Jackson when she wasn’t with Scott and the rest of the Hale pack was… Stiles didn’t even know what they were up to and he wasn’t sure he wanted to find out what was going on with the three loners. He was pretty sure Boyd and Erica were together, if her behavior in the last pack meeting was any clue.

Stiles was disappointed in them for not noticing that their Alpha was absent and had canceled the past two pack meetings.

_Idiots_.

Derek, on the other hand, seemed to be glad that his pack mates weren’t looking for him.

Self-conscious _idiot_.

Stiles was probably huffing angrily when a rock hit him in the chest. “Ow! Derek, what the fuck?”

Derek was looking at him with narrowed eyes. “We are supposed to be meditating, I can’t focus.”

“And you had to throw a rock at me?” Stiles asked rubbing at the spot the rock landed.

Derek smiled at him innocently, in a way that Stiles would have never imagined he could.

It was Stiles’s turn to narrow his eyes then. Derek’s behavior was definitely questionable, but Stiles didn’t want to point it out in case Derek became grumpy and pissy again. Instead, he let another angry huff and closed his eyes again, taking deep breaths in order to relax and go back to meditating before he annoyed Derek again and got the next rock on his head or something.

✨✨✨✨

The sheriff wasn’t stupid, Stiles knew. It was a matter of time before he would realize that Stiles had offered to host a quest for an unauthorized amount time. Even if said guest was 8 inches tall.

Stiles just tried to avoid it until then. There were a few close calls, the fight Derek and he had was definitely one of them. Derek changing the salt with the sugar being the most recent one. Stiles had been yelling at him for a few minutes becoming more and more enraged by the second due to Derek’s delighted face. Derek claimed that he did it as payback because earlier that day Stiles had tried to get him to wear Barbie clothes.

At least Stiles was, you know,  _trying to help_   _him_ , not trying to embarrass him or anything, for god’s sake.

He was about to yell some more when he heard the door banging on the wall. “Fuck!” he hissed and made a wild motion to Derek whose smile vanished and nodded.

In a matter of seconds, Stiles was holding his phone and had used magic to remove all the glittery fairy dust from the kitchen with a blast of wind and Derek’s help. Derek himself probably hid on top of the fridge just in time for the Sheriff to walk in.

Upon entering he narrowed his eyes and took in the kitchen. “I heard shouting.”

Stiles pretended that he had just ended a call. “It was Scott, we had an argument.”

The sheriff didn’t seem to buy it. “So you told Scott  _‘you know, as small as you currently are, you are a huge pain in the ass’_.”

Stiles winced. “It is a saying… we use it… at school.”

Stiles’s dad raised a disbelieving eyebrow. “Really now? And I can assume now that Scott has just conveniently hung up on you.”

“Well, I  _did_  insult him?” Stiles tried.

The Sheriff sighed. “Who is it, Stiles?”

Stiles blinked in confusion. “Who is who?”

“You think I didn’t realize? I know you have been trying to clean up the extra plates every day, but you are not being quiet enough, I have heard you talking.”

_Oh shit._ “It might sound mainstream, but it’s definitely not what you think.”

“Who is it?” The sheriff repeated, eyeing Stiles with his intimidating stare that never failed to get Stiles to talk.

_Fuck fuck fuck._ “Derek Hale.”

The sheriff’s tense posture went even stiffer. He blinked once. “Is he here right now?”

_Yes_. “No.”

Now, Stiles knew that John Stilinski was far from stupid, but Stiles also took pride in how good of a liar he was. He had, after all, survived living in the same house with the sheriff. However, he was starting to doubt his skills as his dad reached for his gun.

“Oh my god, dad! He is not here, put that away!” Stiles yelled.

“Are you sure?”

“100%. He is not, I would know,” Stiles said quickly.

John didn’t seem convinced, as he narrowed his eyes once more, but he let his hands fall to his sides. “He is 22, Stiles,” he said tiredly.

Stiles frowned. “So?”

“ _You are 17_.” John stressed.

Stiles frown deepened. “I don’t see your point, Derek and I can-“

“For God’s sake, Stiles! You are underage.” John shouted.

Stiles blinked and his eyebrows rose in surprise. “Wait, you think… what I think you are thinking? You think Derek and I are- Dad! No!”

“Then enlighten me, what is your relationship with the ex-fugitive Derek Hale.”

“We are friends! Why is that such a hard concept to get?” Stiles retorted.

“Because he is an adult and you are a teenager.”

That… that was so wrong. “Why does my age have anything to do with being a friend to someone?”

“Because that someone is a criminal! He buried his sister in his backyard and he lives in his burnt house, Stiles!”

And that… that was the worst thing he could have said. Stiles immediately saw red. “I can’t believe you just said that. He was not guilty, and you know that better than anyone. He had just lost his sister, the only family member he had left, what did you expect him to do?”

John backed up a little. “I’m not saying that-“

“No, dad! You don’t get to judge someone just like that, not when you don’t know what has really happened. And, well, you know most of it, you know what he has been through,  _you know_! So how about you trust me and not talk like that about the people I love,” Stiles shouted with finality.

The Sheriff seemed taken aback by the aggression. He didn’t speak for a few seconds, the only sound in the room being Stiles’s panting breaths. Then he took out a chair and sat on it. “I see,” he said.

Stiles gave him a confused look.

“I didn’t know you feel like that. I’m sorry.” John said.

“What?”

“I am a parent. Derek doesn’t look like a very good influence. Since he appeared, you have been acting weird. I won’t lie, at first I thought the problem was drugs, but my theory was proved wrong. And now? I don’t know what to think anymore,” he admitted. “All I know is that it started when he came. I didn’t know you were this close. It’s not that I don’t trust your choices, it is that I am a parent. And parents worry. You said I don’t know exactly what happened, maybe you should tell me, or else I will be left making assumptions from what I know myself.”

Stiles wanted to say so many things, to ask so many questions, but most importantly, he just wanted to be done with the lies and tell his dad about everything. He shook his head instead. “It’s not my secret to tell.”

John seemed disappointed but he nodded and didn’t say anything.

“I want to tell you. I really do. I don’t want you to be worried, but I can’t,” Stiles admitted.

The Sheriff simply left the room.

Stiles sighed and sat on the vacated chair, placing his head in his hands.

Stiles heard the sound of tiny wings clapping and he looked up to see Derek now sitting in front of him on the table. “I’m sorry,” Derek said as lowly. “I should leave.”

Stiles chuckled humorlessly. “And go where?”

Derek shrugged. “Doesn’t matter.”

Stiles sighed again, leaned back and closed his eyes. “You are not going anywhere.”

Derek didn’t speak for a while. “I don’t want you to lie to your dad for me, it’s not worth it.”

“That’s bullshit,” Stiles said and looked back at Derek. “You are not going anywhere.”

Derek frowned. “Stiles,” he started to say.

“No. My dad is wrong, and you don’t leave. You stay here until you are back to your normal self, or whatever.”

Derek went silent again. “Why?” he asked after a while.

“Because you are pack, and pack is family, that is what you taught me,” Stiles confessed.

Derek’s expression did something weird then, Stiles couldn’t translate the emotions fast enough.

Stiles smirked. “ _Ohana means family. Family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten,” he_  quoted.

In response, Derek laughed so unexpectedly that  _he snorted with it_. “You are ridiculous.”

“I’m awesome,” Stiles corrected.

Derek didn’t disagree, even if it was obvious that he wanted to say something that was probably mean. Instead, they sat quietly, enjoying the silence.

“You know… you can tell your dad,” Derek said after a while.

Stiles shrugged. “I don’t know if I should,” he admitted. “I don’t want him to get involved, you know? If he is involved, then he will probably try to do something heroic. I don’t want him in more danger than he already is.”

Derek considered it for a bit. “But wouldn’t he be safer if he knew what he was up against half the time? What good would it do him if he rushes blindly into a supernatural kind of problem?”

“That’s why  _we_  take care of those problems before they can manifest,” Stiles responded.

Derek shook his head. “We have been lucky so far, you can’t predict everything and we can’t be sure that we will be able to deal with it.”

Stiles… hadn’t thought of that, but he probably should have. “I will think about it,” he said in the end.

✨✨✨✨

It was the following evening when he had his epiphany.

Stiles was lying on his bed about to doze off and minding his own business. His mind was going in all different directions –as usual- and he was contently thinking about why Derek’s glitter (fairy dust) always changes color -from blue, to red, to green, to yellow, to black, to white, to every fucking color in the universe- and about how annoying it was because he found it everywhere whenever he went, whatever he did It was worse than sand! All glowy and colorful and  _magical_.

The magical part he means in a literal way too; it does stuff on its own sometimes! Like the one time it zapped Stiles lightly, or the other time it formed a night sky and-

_Wait a second._

Stiles flailed and sat up. “Derek!” he said a bit loudly. He winced at the volume and listened closely to make sure his dad was still asleep. “Derek!” he whispered then.

Derek glared at him in response.

Stiles was too agitated to pay him any mind as he started dressing. “We are leaving, get dressed!” He paused and looked back at Derek. “…or whatever.”

Derek sighed dramatically. “Why?”

“The stars, Derek! I figured it out! Or I think I did…” Stiles explained.

“What.”

“It’s not stars, it’s glitter! It’s a fucking metaphor because your magical colorful is  _magical_! You see?” he said making a wild gesture that could mean anything.

Stiles could practically see Derek’s gears turning. “You are making no sense.”

“Fairy dust is a part of every fairy, the stain they leave wherever they go. It responds to the fairy’s attitude, as far as I can tell, and most importantly it helps locate them! God, how didn’t I think of it sooner?  _Look for the stars_ ,” Stiles analyzed.

“You’d better be right or I swear I will kill you in your sleep.” Was all Derek had to say at the reveal of Stiles’s absolutely  _brilliant_  idea.

“Your lack of faith is truly hurtful,” Stiles told him and opened his bedroom door. Then, he reached for Derek, who jumped on his open palm.

This was the  _best_  idea Stiles had ever had.

✨✨✨✨

This was the  _worst_  idea Stiles had ever had.

They were wandering in the woods for probably  _hours -_ or maybe close to one and a half hour, but Stiles just liked to be dramatic like that. They had yet to find anything other than old hunting traps, wild animals, and insects.

No signs of fairies whatsoever.

Derek was perched on his right shoulder and as time passed, his annoyed growls got louder.

Stiles’s nerves were slowly but gradually getting fried.

“Can you stop?” he snapped after some more minutes.

“What, are you the only one allowed to be annoying?” Stiles couldn’t see Derek’s face but he could  _hear_  the smirk he was most definitely spotting.

Stiles wasn’t impressed. “You are doing it to annoy me? That’s so  _petty_.”

Derek rewarded him with a small zap of magic that Stiles regrets teaching him. “This is all your fault, so shut up and keep looking.”

Stiles huffed in annoyance but did as he was told nonetheless.

✨✨✨✨

Stiles was tired, he didn’t know what time it was, but at least the sky was still dark so he knew not too much time passed.

He was ready to give up when Derek jerked his whole body. “There!” he exclaimed and pointed to their right.

It took a few seconds, but Stiles saw it. The slightest of the glow under the soft moonlight resting over a fallen branch from the largest tree.

Stiles walked up and crounched next to it. He called on his magic and hovered his hand over it to get a feel without actually touching it.

The fairy dust seemed to react immediately. It tingled against his own magic and it started forming shapes.

Stiles didn’t know what to think of it, Derek’s fairy glitter never acted like this. He decided to go with his gut and he let his magic to enfold it and brink it in his palms in a perfect circle. He started at it in awe as it tried to escape the hold his magic had on it.

It was easy to cast a locating spell on it then.

Stiles closed his eyes in concentration and relaxed his body. He reached out tentatively, he was cautious to not rush it, as he had only performed that spell to his pack members before and he didn’t know how it would react to someone without the pack bond.

The foreign magic that emitted from the gathered dust resisted his hold and tried to shock him, probably in defense, but he pressed harder.

It gave in. Stiles’s eyes remained closed, but images filled his eyes anyway. He saw the back of a man -a fairy- who had wings similar to Derek’s but he was tinted yellow instead of blue. Upon making contact, the man turned around and looked directly at him.

The man wore a long-sleeved gold tunic the reached just above his knees but nothing else. He couldn’t be much older than Stiles, barely above twenty was Stiles’s assumption. His hair was a very yellow shade of blond and his eyes were a color much similar to Stiles’s own. Stiles could see a hint of fear in his eyes before it vanished as the man took him in. “What do you want?” he asked.

“I am looking for Amara,” Stiles told him.

“As you can see, she is not here.” The man retorted with a gesture of his hand.

“We had a deal.”

“I am familiar with your…  _deal_ , but I am not Amara. Therefore, I have no reason to help you.” The man said with confidence but there was something with his stance that made Stiles doubt him.

Stiles walked around a little without responding. “You are still in Hale land,” he said after a while and watched the man’s expression carefully. “That means you  _can’t_  leave yet.”

The man snorted. “That is not true.”

Stiles raised an eyebrow, unconsciously coping Derek’s  _I-know-you-are-full-of-shit_  face. “It’s not?”

The man raised his chin in defiance but Stiles could tell he was right, no matter what the man claimed. So he walked up to him.

“Bring me Amara,” he ordered in authority.

The man’s posture changed completely and he snarled. “Who do you think you are to talk to me like that? We-”

Stiles didn’t even need to hear the rest. “Yeah, yeah, you are the most powerful clan or whatever, I don’t care,” he said and did a dismissive motion. “Yet you don’t look half as powerful as Amara. I don’t know how long fairies live, but I am guessing you are young. Do us both a favor and fetch Amara for me.”

The man’s hostile stance predictably didn’t alter. “I will not stand to be talked down like that from a human  _child_. When we-“

Stiles interrupted him again. “See. How am I supposed to respect you when you keep using the word we instead of I?”

The man’s face was priceless. “Well then  _I_  can  _smite_  you, you are not a match for me.”

Stiles dismissed him again. “Yeah, I don’t care. I have heard worse threats and I have had a terrible week. Month. Year. Just get me Amara.”

Stiles smirked when the man snarled again and stomped his foot like an over-sized child. He then clicked his fingers and looked at Stiles expectantly. “Done. Now break the connection.”

Stiles frowned. “I don’t see Amara.”

“Of course you don’t; she is not here, she is wherever you are at the moment. Now  _break the connection_.” The fairy demanded.

Stiles sent him a disbelieving look but he did as he was told.

When he blinked back in reality, the first thing he saw was Derek’s worried face. He flinched back in surprise. “Jesus, Derek!” he said and placed his hand on his chest to calm his racing heart.

Derek’s worry melted in amusement.

“I hate you,” Stiles claimed.

Before Derek could say anything more, though, a flashing light appeared behind him.

Quickly, Stiles stood up and wrapped his arms around Derek. Derek let a soft ‘oof’ sound as he was suddenly cradled protectively against Stiles’s chest, but he didn’t say anything else.

The light faded into a familiar silhouette.

Amara stood proud, looking exactly how she looked on the night Stiles first saw her. “Mieczysław,” she addressed with a small respectful movement of her head. “You have angered Darrius. Impressive.”

Stiles shrugged. “Honestly it wasn’t that hard.”

Amara smiled pleasantly. “You have great potential indeed.”

“You said that before. Potential for what?” Stiles asked.

Amara waved him off. “I trust you didn’t summon me to ask about that.”

Stiles’s attention snapped back to Derek, who he was still holding tightly against his chest. For his part, Derek wasn’t complaining, but Stiles eased the pressure on him. “No, I didn’t. I called you because you tricked me, even though I remember very clearly that you said  _no loopholes_.”

Amara circled them with a look of boredom. “What makes you think I tricked you?”

“I don’t know, how about the fact that Derek turned into a fairy?” Stiles said sarcastically.

“ _Fae_.” Amara corrected in annoyance and stopped walking.

“Whatever, I don’t care. We had an agreement.”

An amused smile overtook her annoyed expression. “Tell me Mieczysław, what do you know about the fae?”

Stiles paused. “Honestly not much. I read about them but I am not sure what was internet bullshit or fact. One thing they all agree is that fairies are tricksters,” he admitted.

She hummed at his response. “That is indeed true. But it is not all it is to it. We are known to be mischievous, but our pranks are never truly harmful. Quite the opposite, actually, we always have a reason behind every action,” she stated. “Humans just can’t tell the difference between a boon, a prank or an act of revenge.”

Stiles frowned. “That doesn’t even make sense.”

Amara sighed in disappointment. “Of course, I had forgotten that sparks for all their power, they are still too  _human_.”

“Then help me understand,” Stiles said in frustration.

“My intention is not to harm or humiliate your…  _wolf_. I am holding my end of the deal what you do with it is your problem.”

“How am I being turned into a fae part of your deal?” Derek spoke up for the first time.

“I trust that you will soon find out,” she said cryptically. “No, if you’ll excuse me I have a few matters to take care of.”

Before either of them could say anything else, she was gone in a cloud of fairy dust that soon dissolved to nothing.

They stood motionless for a few seconds before Derek growled loudly and shoved Stiles’s hand away.

Stiles let him go immediately and Derek flew back on the fallen bark he was sitting on earlier.

“Call her back,” he demanded.

Stiles shook his head. “What for? She will probably not come.”

Derek bared his teeth. “In case you didn’t notice I am still a fairy.”

Stiles shot him an unimpressed look. “I know. But we are missing something.”

Derek crossed his arms angrily. “What are you talking about?”

“The fairy I saw –Darrius or whatever his name is- was here,” Stiles explained. “Well, not  _here,_  but still in Beacon Hills.”

Realization was drawn on Derek’s face. “They can’t leave.”

“Correct,” Stiles agreed. “Why can’t they leave? They should have been gone by now. Amara said that they wanted to settle to a new territory. I don’t think staying here is productive.”

“They can’t leave until Amara’s boon gets the intended result,” Derek finished.

Stiles nodded. “Exactly.”

Derek considered it. “How does this helps though?”

“We are missing something. The only way for them to leave is for you to be human again. Werewolf. Whatever,” Stiles summarized.

Derek was thoughtful. “The first time, when she asked your permission to cross my territory, what exactly did she say?”

_Shit_. “I told you.”

“No, you told me she said she would  _‘make your alpha happy’_. That’s not all, is it?” Derek asked.

Stiles’s heart was pounding a bit too loudly against his chest, and for once he was glad Derek was a fairy and not an alpha werewolf with super senses. “Well, she said there would be no loopholes and that you would be happy as any of her fairies.”

Derek narrowed his eyes. “You are lying. Why would you agree to that?”

Stiles frowned. “Why not?”

Derek growled at him again. “You had the chance to be granted with a boon from a fairy and you settled for that? What else is there?”

“Nothing! You are my friend and my alpha why would I not want you happy? Is it that strange?”

“Yes, it is!”

“Oh my god, are we really having this argument? I told you, you being happy was the agreement.”

“Stop lying!” Derek yelled and punched him square on the chest with surprising strength.

Stiles rubbed at the spot. “You have such low esteem it’s depressing. I agreed to that because I care about you? Is that so hard to understand?” He yelled back.

Derek stared back at him in stunned silence.

Or at least Stiles hoped it was  _stunned_  silence and not plotting murder silence. He couldn’t really tell with Derek’s mood swings lately.

Stiles clapped his hands together awkwardly. “Can we go home now? The sun is almost up.”

Derek only nodded and sat on his shoulder.

✨✨✨✨

A week later nothing much had changed. Except for Derek’s mood.

Derek had been calmer and more determined since Stiles contacted Amara. Of course, why Derek was still tiny was a mystery, but they were working it out.

In the meantime, the pack finally started asking where Derek was all the time.

Thus, it was no surprise when Stiles’s precious night sleep was interrupted. Or it would have been if he was actually sleeping.

In any way, his window was snapped open and banged on the wall, so he was startled and alert in a matter of seconds. He caught sight of Derek falling subtly to the floor and in no time he was sitting up on his bed with his hands raised in front of his chest. His palms were turned slightly towards the ceiling, ready to assess the threat and either cast a defensive or offensive spell.

Of course, neither was needed, he realized, when he recognized the person in his room as Erica.

Stiles was suddenly very glad his dad had a nightshift.

“What the fuck, Erica?” he yelled and let his hands drop.

“Yeah, what the fuck Erica, you said we would scare him awake together!” Isaac said as he leaned inside the room through the open window.

Stiles glared at him. “Is there anyone else who wants to invade my bedroom?”

Isaac shrugged. “Boyd said he would wait outside.”

Erica smirked. “It’s not like you are not used to it. With the way Derek’s scent is all over the place, one would think he isn’t only coming through the window.”

Isaac grimaced and made an ‘ew’ sound.

Stiles on the other hand probably blushed very hard. “Erica!” he yelled in mortification. “Why do you have to make everything sound like that?”

Erica only smiled predatorily.

Stiles rubbed his forehead tiredly. “Why are you even here?”

“We haven’t seen Derek in weeks. You are the only one to be in contact with him, where is he?” Isaac answered.

Stiles frowned as he lied. “How should I know? He doesn’t tell me everything.”

“Are you sure about that, Stilinski?” Erica asked and paced around. “I wasn’t lying about his scent. He has been here quite a lot.”

Stiles shrugged nervously. “Yeah, so?”

“Where is he?” Erica snapped.

Stiles breathed deeply. “I don’t know,” he said, hoping that he managed to calm his heartbeat enough for them to not notice the lie.

“You have gotten better at lying.” Boyd said from his doorway.

Stiles made a weird motion with his hands. “How did you even get in?”

Boyd shrugged. “You keep a spare key under the mat.”

“Yeah, you told us at the last pack meeting.” Isaac added.

“And yet, you still decided to climb through my window,” Stiles sneered.

Erica threw an arm over his shoulder. “Don’t be like that, batman. You know we love you. But we also love scaring you.”

Stiles crossed his arms over his chest. “I hate you all.”

“Now  _that’s_  a lie.” Isaac said and sat on his desk chair.

“You are talking too loudly.” Boyd commented.

Stiles frowned. “Why is that weird?”

Isaac frowned. “Your dad isn’t home,” he realized.

“No, he isn’t, someone else is,” Erica caught up.

“Uh… not really, I am home alone and everything,” Stiles tried to assure them.

Erica smirked. “I was joking earlier, but, wow, I didn’t think it was possible. Good job, Stilinski!” she exclaimed and punched his shoulder.

Stiles gritted his teeth. “I have no idea what you are talking about.”

Erica didn’t try to contradict him. Instead, she moved back. “Come on, Derek, get out. Did you seriously hide under the bed?”

Erica’s smirk dropped when Derek appeared. All three betas looked at him with matching stunned expressions. Stiles supposed it was better than laughing at him.

“So, Derek might have been cursed,” Stiles said awkwardly.

“You don’t say.” Isaac commented.

“How long has he been like that?” Erica asked.

“Roughly a month,” Stiles replied quickly.

“I can speak for myself,” Derek snapped and flew on top of the bed so that he could be higher.

Erica frowned. “You have been a…  _fairy_ , for a  _month_? And you didn’t tell us?”

Derek growled. “We are handling it.”

“Like hell you are, if you had it handled, you wouldn’t be a fairy for a month already!” Erica retorted.

Derek clenched his jaw. “It’s none of your business.”

“Is it not?” Isaac quipped. “Are we, or are we not part of your pack? Why does Stiles knows but we don’t?”

Derek looked away. “Stiles is the reason I am a fairy in the first place.”

Erica narrowed her eyes. “That doesn’t answer the question why we weren’t informed.”

“I’m your Alpha, I don’t have to tell you-“ Derek started but he was interrupted by Erica.

“Yeah, that doesn’t work anymore. Tell us the real reason why you didn’t tell us,” she demanded and stalked closer, effectively towering over him.

“Hey!” Stiles said and picked Derek up and away from her. “That’s enough, Erica.”

Derek, for his part, looked displeased and angry at the treatment, but Stiles could feel his hands squeeze his finger in a _thank you_  manner.

Erica wasn’t impressed. “Shut up, Stiles, we have the right to know.”

“And he has the right to not tell you. At least not until he’s ready,” Stiles shot back. “What matters is not why he didn’t tell you, but what you will do now that you found out.”

Erica frowned. “What we will do? What  _can_  we do? We don’t know how he came to be like that. How can we help like that?”

Stiles smiled slightly. He was so going to have an I-told-you-so conversation with Derek later.

For now, though, he started explaining the situation to his fellow pack members.

✨✨✨✨

By the time the sheriff returned home, Stiles was done explaining and they had moved to the kitchen to hunt down some food. Having not slept the previous night, they were all pretty tired. Erica had her hair in a messy ponytail and had demanded that Stiles gave her a t-shirt to wear because hers was a bit uncomfortable.

The Sheriff wasn’t fazed by the appearance of three more teenagers in his house. “You had a sleepover?”

“There wasn’t much sleep, but yes,” Stiles said easily.

John nodded but then frowned slightly. “Scott didn’t come?”

“He has homework,” Stiles dismissed and took another bite off his breakfast.

The sheriff hummed but didn’t say anything else. Instead, he headed for his bedroom to sleep.

✨✨✨✨

Stiles hadn’t really planned the way his dad found out about werewolves.

Honestly, it was a last minute decision.

Or maybe a forced situation.

Stiles liked to think that it was a situation under control all along.

_It wasn’t._

What actually happened, was that Stiles was setting up Derek’s daily bath, with Derek sitting on an empty space on the white shelf under the bathroom mirror, talking lowly about something entirely random and generally minding their own business, while they thought the sheriff was sleeping.

The sheriff  _wasn’t_  sleeping. He had woken up for a bathroom break and walked in on them because the door was ajar.

He must have been standing there for some time, but Stiles wasn’t actually the one who saw him. Instead, Derek stopped mid-sentence, which was enough for Stiles to look up.

Now Stiles knew how this looks, but he also knew how his dad saw it.

John Stilinski was motionless and gaping at the scene in front of him. Stiles feared he would have an aneurysm. “I have a very believable explanation for this.”

The Sheriff blinked slowly. “Would you mind sharing it?”

Stiles glanced at Derek. “No, not really.”

“Stiles!” The Sheriff warned.

“I’m helping Derek bathe?”

John rubbed his eyes. “I am not sure what I am seeing, but I really need to use the bathroom. Get out and wait for me in the kitchen.”

“Yes, sir!” Stiles saluted with false enthusiasm. Quickly he grabbed Derek and run out.

“Oh my god,” He kept repeating on their way to the kitchen.

Once there he set Derek on the table and sat on the chair, immediately starting fidgeting and biting his nail nervously.

When John entered the kitchen, even Derek was shifting anxiously by Stiles’s forearm. “There is still a tiny person in my house,” he mumbled.

Stiles opened his mouth to say something –anything really-, but the Sheriff raised his hand in a stop motion. Instead, he reached for the coffee machine and started preparing a cup of coffee. Stiles wanted one too, but he didn’t want to break the silence, so he didn’t ask for one.

When he was done, John sat at the chair opposite to Stiles with a patient look. “Explain.”

“This might sound crazy…” Stiles started and his dad raised an eyebrow at him. “So… this is Derek,” he finished and pointed at Derek.

“Derek is a  _fairy_?”

_You know what? Fuck it._  “No. Derek is a werewolf, this is a spell gone wrong,” he said seriously.

John frowned. “This is not funny, Stiles.”

“It’s not meant to be. Surprise! Werewolves are real and Derek is one. As are Scott, Erica, Isaac, Boyd, and Jackson, but that’s not the point. The point is that a fae tried to negotiate to pass through our territory and I may have foolishly accepted to turn Derek into one of them,” Stiles babbled almost too fast to make sense.

John sat there blinking.

“You don’t believe me,” Stiles speculated with a sigh. “Isn’t he proof enough?” he said poking Derek a bit roughly.

John drank his whole coffee in one go. “It’s not that I don’t believe you, it is that I am not sure I am awake yet.”

Stiles winced. “You are definitely awake.”

John sighed and rubbed the space between his eyebrows. “Is there a more logical excuse?”

“Not really?”

His dad let another long sigh. “I want you to tell me everything about this  _pack_  of yours.”

✨✨✨✨

It took two hours for Stiles to explain to his dad what happened since Scott was bitten. Of course, he sugar-coated some details and left some others out completely. Derek interjected every now and then to clarify some wolfy stuff, but other than that he was mostly silent.

In the end, John Stilinski has a headache and ordered Stiles to always inform him of any situation that might come up.

Stiles would have gotten grounded too, if he hadn’t pointed out that he couldn’t be grounded when Derek was depending on him. Derek was not happy about that statement but he wisely didn’t voice his concerns.

All in all, it was a very tiring conversation that left them all very drained.

Having the Sheriff in the know proved to be quite a perk the following days.

The pack visited regularly and they didn’t have to watch what they said in front of him, Stiles didn’t have to lie to his dad daily, and most importantly? Stiles and Derek didn’t have to sneak around anymore.

Derek didn’t have to hide away whenever the sheriff was home or at least awake, something that improved his mood greatly.

These days he looked almost  _happy,_ even if he was as tall as a glass of water. The support of his pack probably helped a lot with that too.

Stiles brought the subject on the previous day and pointed out that if Derek hadn’t been so stubborn from the start, then maybe they would have had fewer problems from day one.

Derek, of course, didn’t admit his fault, even though it was obvious that he knew Stiles was right.

Sometimes Stiles really wanted to punch him. And then cuddle him maybe.

Not that he would ever suggest that, even if Derek was back to his normal self.

Stiles couldn’t wait for Derek to be tall again. Or so he said. Deep down, he was not so anxious for the transformation to happen. He knew it was selfish, but Derek now depended on him, so when he turned back to normal, he would probably leave and only show up when he thought he needed Stiles. Stiles had come to like having him around 24/7. He didn't want Derek to go, but there was not much he could do about it.

Derek, unsurprisingly, didn’t seem to feel the same way.

But it was fine, Stiles was used to it.

✨✨✨✨

 

Of course, Stiles should have guessed that something would go wrong.

It was late at night when he felt the wards he had placed in the edge of their territory being breached. The wards were still standing, but one of his older protection spells was defied.

Stiles would guess that someone literally flung themselves through it and it must have broken by the pure force. Whoever was trespassing was alone, and probably a feral werewolf too.

Stiles deeply regretted not fortifying his protection spells.

He sighed and sat up in his bed. Derek seemed to still be sound asleep, but there wasn’t much he could do for the intruder anyway, so Stiles didn’t see the reason to wake him up yet.

A werewolf, feral or not, should be easy for him to take care of.

Now, Stiles, by all means, was not, in fact, a complete idiot, so he sent a group text about it to his fellow pack members that weren’t Derek. He had this one offensive spell he longed to use for some time now, but he took his trusted bat too, in case something went wrong.

Satisfied with himself, he left the house and headed for the woods.

Soon his friends were responding to his text, so he was sure nothing would go wrong.

✨✨✨✨

In retrospect, Stiles knew that not waking Derek up would cause a lot of problems, but at the time, they looked minor.

The situation was most definitely not under control.

The intruder found him and caught him by surprise, which meant that Stiles was a tad too late to properly concentrate on the spell he was about to cast.

The spell was supposed to paralyze the opponent long enough for him to hit his trusted metal bat to their head and knock them unconscious until the pack could reach him and take over.

It was a perfectly good plan, okay?

Hastily casting it, the spell was weak, so the werewolf managed to grab his left wrist and  _pull._

Stiles was pretty sure he heard something pop as pain rushed through him. He squealed in surprise and instinctively summoned fire with his injured hand, effectively breaking contact with the burned wolf.

He didn’t have the luxury to examine his hand, the wolf was too surprised to attack so Stiles had his opening. He struck him with his bat with as much strength as he could manage.

It was enough. The wolf lost consciousness immediately and fell limply to his side.

Stiles let his bat fall and he cradled his arm to his chest. It hurt, but he could still move his fingers around if he gritted his teeth through the pain, so he was pretty sure it wasn’t as bad as it seemed.

Just then, Isaac appeared, followed by Erica and Boyd. They rushed to his direction, Boyd immediately checked the strange wolf, while Isaac hovered uncertainly and Erica gently tried to examine his injured hand.

“Scott?” Stiles asked.

“Allison, Lydia and he are at Allison’s, already talking to Chris about this one.” Isaac said and pointed at the feral werewolf.

Stiles frowned. “Jackson?”

Isaac winced. “He went to get Derek.”

Stiles groaned. “ _Why_?”

“He is our Alpha, Stiles, he has to know,” Erica pointed out.

Stiles sighed. “Yeah, but I was thinking about telling him in the morning after making sure he is in a good mood and everything is dealt with. Now he is going to come here and be all what-were-you-thinking.”

No one responded to his worries. Boyd threw the werewolf on his shoulder and they all started heading back.

“You should have that checked over,” Erica commented looking pointedly at his arm.

Stiles shrugged. “It’s fine, it is not as bad,” he admitted and experimentally moved it around.

It hurt, but it was manageable and he was sure it wasn’t broken, so it would be okay. He could definitely avoid the hospital or any other doctor appointments. Worst case scenario, he will have to get Melissa to look it over.

 

✨✨✨✨

“ _What were you thinking?_ ” was the first thing Derek told them when he saw them.

His betas instinctively tilted their heads a bit, even if their angry alpha was too small to actually do anything about their supposed disobedience.

Stiles would cross his arms in annoyance, if his hand didn’t hurt when he moved it.

“Do you have any idea why what you did could have ended up with you injured or dead?” Derek continued glaring down at them all.

The betas looked like scolded children and they flinched back at some point. It was a pathetic sight.

Stiles narrowed his eyes at Derek. “I was the one to tell them what to do. If anything they decided to get Jackson to wake you up,” he volunteered.

“I am aware,” Derek snapped but didn’t look at Stiles, instead he stared down each one of his betas. “I will talk to you later, get out,” he directed at them at last.

All four of them rushed out of the room without a second thought.

“What happened to your hand? You have been favoring one since you came back,” Derek asked as soon as they were alone.

Stiles shrugged and rubbed his sore wrist. “It’s nothing. It might be mildly sprained but nothing serious.”

Derek’s jaw visibly tightened. “Do you have any idea how reckless you were? Do you realize that this could be much worse?” he asked pointing to Stiles’s arm.

Stiles winced. “I had it under control!”

“No, you didn’t!” Derek shouted back. “ _You didn’t_. You risked your and my beta’s lives and  _you didn’t even bother to wake me up_. Do you realize that?”

Stiles frowned. “I know what I risked, I am not a kid, stop treating me like one. I see why everything could have gone wrong and I took the risk anyway. I am sorry you are worried but I took care of the situation because you  _couldn’t_!”

Derek’s wings flinched and he  _turned red,_ gone was the blue tint he normally had _._ “I very much could! And even if I didn’t,  _I am your Alpha_! I make the plans, I decide if I will send my  _human_  pack member to face a feral werewolf.”

“Oh, so you would rather risk the lives of your betas instead?” Stiles shot back.

“They can heal, you can’t!”

Stiles seethed. “I have magic! I am a more important asset when it comes to fights, if only things had gone my way, I would have paralyzed him immediately and then the betas could come and take him to the Argents.”

“Or he could have knocked you out before you even saw him!”

“Yes, but-“ Stiles started defending himself but Derek stopped him.

“ _You could have died_!” he didn’t shout the words, but the effect was the same, Stiles’s argument died in his lips. “There is nothing that you can say that makes this better. You have no excuses!”

Stiles looked at his wrist. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.

“Are you?  _Are you_? You were  _lucky_  tonight. Do you understand?” Stiles’s lack of reply prompted Derek to continue in a seemingly calmer tone. “Have I told you, that even before the fire Laura was my best friend? When I lost everyone, at least I knew that Laura was there. When I had nothing, she was there. And then she was gone. You were the first one I trusted after that.  _Do you understand, Stiles_? Do you understand that I can’t lose you too?”

When Derek looked up, his eyes were shining with unleased tears. Stiles swallowed the sudden emotion that built up inside him, but he didn’t reply, too busy considering his confession.

“I can’t lose my mate too,” Derek whispered so lowly that Stiles would think he imagined the words if he hadn’t seen Derek’s lips moving.

The latest admission shocked Stiles so much his mind rebooted. “What? What do you mean?”

Derek, for his part, looked surprised by his own input. “Nothing.”

“ _I’m your mate_?” Stiles shouted.

Derek looked as if he would disappear if he could. “It’s no big deal.”

Stiles flailed and winced when he moved his injured wrist too harshly. “No big deal?  _No big deal_? I have done my research, I know how much a mate means to a werewolf.”

Derek didn’t look inclined to say anything.

“When were you thinking to tell me?”

Silence.

“Were you ever going to tell me?” he asked in a lower tone.

“Eventually,” Derek replied between his teeth.

“I don’t understand,” Stiles admitted. “Was your previous sentimental lecture just your protective alpha werewolf instincts? Am I that much of a  _misfortune_  to be your mate that you would neglect to tell me until you absolutely had to?”

Derek narrowed his eyes. “What are you talking about? This is not about you as a person, you know damn well how a werewolf chooses their mate. You know that even if it is a subconscious decision, there must already be attraction and appreciation for the other person. You wouldn’t be my mate if I didn’t already like you.”

“Then why did you hide it from me?” Stiles shouted.

“You are seventeen, Stiles! I was for quite some time considered a criminal. You are young and you have so much potential, I can’t ask you to be stuck with  _me_  for the rest of your life!”

Stiles snapped. “What if I want to? Why is it that bad to want to be with you?” Derek barely had the chance to open his mouth before Stiles raised his hand in a stop motion. “If it is about the ‘ _you are young’_  crap, I don’t want to hear it. I am turning 18 in less than a month, and if I weren’t, you are young yourself. You act like you are you are old, but you are not. Tell me, Derek, what were you doing before you came back? Because I remember you said you didn’t even get to finish college before you were dragged back here. You are as much of a child as I am to the eyes of society. So that argument is invalid. What’s up next? You living a dangerous life? Well, I don’t care about that either, as you can see, I am well aware of that fact. I know of every little excuse that can run through your thick head. Maybe you are thinking that I deserve someone  _better,_ whatever that means, but I think you already are perfect,” he babbled and stopped to take a breath.

Derek was staring at him with wide eyes, obviously needing some time to take it all in.

“So, whatever reason you want to give me, you better think about it before you say something stupid,” Stiles added.

“I didn’t know,” Derek said.

 “Well, now you do. The question is what you are going to do about it,” Stiles shrugged in a careless way, as if he couldn’t care less for Derek’s response.

“I will ask you on a date,” Derek decided. Stiles’s whole face lit up with excitement at the words, but he didn’t get to reply before Derek continued. “In a month, after you turn 18.”

Stiles fell dramatically back on his bed. “You are no fun!” he declared in hopes to reduce the seriousness of the conversation.

A small smile grew on Derek’s face as a response and Stiles just knew then that everything would be okay.

✨✨✨✨

The following morning Stiles was startled awake by a loud noise and mischievous laughter echoing in his head.

He sat up so quickly he got lightheaded, but he froze when he caught sight of Derek.

Derek who was full sized again. And naked. And fallen face first on the floor.

He was obviously asleep before he fell, so his hair was stuck to his forehead and his eyes were widened in shock. He came in a sitting position and seemed to be examining his limbs as if to make sure everything was as it should be. Then, he turned his eyes to Stiles and frowned. “Why are you staring at me? Get me some clothes!”

Stiles closed his gaping mouth and jumped out of the bed, but ended up face planting because his feet got caught in his sheets.

Derek let out a long-suffering sigh. “ _Idiot_.”

✨✨✨✨

Barely a few hours later, the whole pack was gathered in Derek’s loft.

Stiles, of course, was the first one to be there, but only because he was the one that drove Derek back to his own house.

As soon as they entered the loft, Derek went to his bedroom to change, while Stiles stayed downstairs to wait for everyone else. Until Peter made his appearance.

“How pleasant, for you to be here.” Peter said.

Stiles groaned. “Can’t you go back wherever you were hiding since the start of this summer?”

“ _Hiding_? I wasn’t hiding, I was here.” Peter admitted. “When I wasn’t…  _monitoring_  you.”

Stiles squeaked. “You were stalking us?”

Peter tsked. “I wouldn’t call it  _stalking_ , that sounds pathetic did stare at you from the tree outside your window though.”

“You  _what_?”

Peter gave him a predatory grin but didn’t reply. Instead, he sat at the couch and patted the spot next to him to show Stiles that he was welcome to sit.

Stiles narrowed his eyes and didn’t move.

Peter sighed dramatically. “Oh, come on, don’t you think that if I wanted to kill you I would have done it long ago?”

Stiles shrugged and took up on the offer, but sat as far away from Peter as he could. “How come you didn’t try anything? Derek was basically defenseless and the betas are not skilled enough to stop you.”

Peter tilted his head slightly to the side. “Your lack of faith in me is disappointed, to say the least. Why would I hurt my pack?”

“Why not? It’s not like the pack bonds ever stopped you before.”

Peter’s smirk fell away and a flash of emotion echoed on his face, but it was too fast for Stiles to identify it. “I was obviously not in the right mind when you first saw me, but I can assure you, before the fire, although I was quite a troublemaker, I never harmed anyone from my pack. I was… misguided, when I became conscious again.”

Stiles raised an eyebrow. “That implies that you are not misguided anymore?”

Peter’s smirk came back full force. “I can guarantee you, that I mean no harm to you or your mate. The same courtesy extends to the rest of your pack members. Even though, those are so much fun to play with.”

Stiles paid no attention to him as his attention was focused on just one word.  _Mate_. “How did you know?”

Peter raised an eyebrow as if to say ‘ _do you even need to ask?’_.

Stiles decided that no he didn’t need to ask and honestly he didn’t really care. He knew that for once in his life Peter was being absolutely honest, so why would it matter?

A stray thought came to Stiles then. “So if mates basically means werewolf married or at least close to that, does that mean that now you are my uncle too?”

Peter leaned back and sighed. “I fear that in this pack I am considered everyone’s uncle, even if they don’t like me.”

✨✨✨✨

It wasn’t long after that the rest of the pack arrived, and, apparently, Derek waited to make an entrance, because he came down only after everyone was gathered. He had taken a shower and changed back to his own clothes that actually fit him, and not the ones that Stiles lent him that looked ridiculously small on him.

His hair had grown too long, since he couldn’t get a haircut as a fairy, so he put them up in a tiny man bun. He trimmed his beard when he was upstairs too, so he no longer looked like a crazed caveman.

He looked  _good_. Stiles was definitely digging the longer hair on him.

He wasn’t the first one to comment, though. That was a privilege Erica claimed by wolf whistling. “Looking good, Der!”

Derek’s facial expression didn’t alter at all, but Stiles could detect a faint redness on his cheeks.  _Interesting_.

Thankfully, if anyone else noticed, they didn’t tease him about it and, instead, they started the pack meeting.

It wasn’t a long meeting, there wasn’t much to say, the fairies were already gone since the morning, and their nagging presence had lifted off Stiles’s wards. Stiles hadn’t known he could still feel them, until their absence, something that puzzled but relieved him.

Derek talked with Allison about the rogue wolf, and all the betas welcomed him back.

That was all, then. The pack decided to go to Jackson’s house for movie night because he had the best TV, but Stiles stayed back. Peter made himself scarce, although no one saw where he disappeared to, so Stiles was left alone with Derek.

“How is your wrist?” Derek asked as he sat on the vacated seat next to Stiles.

“It doesn’t hurt as much. I want to try a healing spell later, but I am not sure if it will work.”

Derek nodded in acknowledgment.

Stiles shifted closer. “ _So_ , about that date…”

Derek didn’t look amused. “Are you 18?”

“Well, not yet, but-“ Stiles started to say but Derek interrupted him.

“Then no date for you,” he said.

“Oh come on Derek! I am your mate, you can’t say no to me!” Stiles said dramatically.

Derek’s eyebrows did a thing and he smirked. “I can and I will.”

Stiles pouted. “Can I at least get a kiss?”

Derek narrowed his eyes. “No kisses either until you are 18.”

“Are you sure?” Stiles said and scooted closer.

“Yes, I am,” Derek maintained but he didn’t look as sure as he was before.

Stiles tried his best puppy-eyed look. “Not even one?”

Derek frowned. “You know you look ridiculous, right?”

“I second that!” Stiles said in mock offense with a playful smile.

A smile that didn’t last because, in an instant, Derek was cupping his face and  _kissing_  him. It was soft and sweet and short.

Derek pulled back quickly with a smirk and got off of the couch.

“Wha- Derek! I didn’t have enough time to react!” Stiles protested and got up.

Derek’s smirk widened. “That’s all you are getting for now. Now, put on your shoes, we are going to Jackson’s.”

“You are such a tease,  _I hate you_!” Stiles called and Derek laughed in reply.

And wasn’t that a wonderful sound to hear?

Amara had not played him after all, Derek indeed got happier since the boon and Stiles was glad for it.

Somehow everything worked out in the end. Somehow, Stiles believed that everything would continue to work in their favor for quite some more time. Somehow he knew that everything would be okay and that they will be happy.

That was all that mattered too, was it not? Wasn’t happiness what got them in this situation in the first place?

And it all happened because Stiles made a deal with a fairy.

Fairies. Fucking  _fairies_.

Those devious bastards. They always found a way to fuck you up in the most creative ways.

Stiles loved them.  _He loved them._

 

**Author's Note:**

> You can find artwork for this fic [here,](http://hailderek.tumblr.com/post/171455684558/trail-of-dust-gamecake-relationship-sterek)[ here,](http://hailderek.tumblr.com/post/171490113941/trail-of-dust-gamecake-relationship-sterek) and [here.](http://hailderek.tumblr.com/post/171525830776/trail-of-dust-gamecake-relationship-sterek)  
>  
> 
>  [tumblr.](http://lokiofasgcrd.tumblr.com/)
> 
> There is a **Russian translation** by [ **_gutentag_**](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gutentag/pseuds/gutentag) that you can find [ **_here_**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16727082)!


End file.
